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One of my best friends, Strawberry5, has great success with an Atlas Brawler build, almost always topping the scoreboard and blowing scrubs to bits and pieces. This guide is the result of hours of grinding and experimenting and represents the, in my opinion, currently best load-out if you want to go toe to toe with your foes as an Atlas pilot. Be sure to drop by his profile and leave him a thumbs-up (link at the end of the guide).

Atlas AS7-D-DC

Standard Engine 350

Max armor on all torso partitions, reduce both legs to ~41 and both arms to ~52

Use the high max range of your double UltraAC/5 to lay down suppressing fire and chip away at enemies during the first minutes of the match. Enemy LRM-boats and other long range builds will duck back behind cover and potential future enemies will have their starting armor reduced.

Always try to entangle your enemies in close quarters combat as soon as possible. You are one of the most fearsome brawlers on the battlefield; make your enemies brawl as well whether they want to or not.

Fire your UltraAC/5s by single clicking at all times (1.1sec). Restrain yourself from holding down the key as they will most likely jam very fast and your actual damage output will decline. Only gamble on your weapons not jamming when being faced with certain death.

If your ECM gets blocked (mostly by light mechs), switch to counter (hotkey J). Afterwards, find the ECM bearing mech and dispose of it with your triple SSRM2s and lasers.

Keep in mind that your ECM will not protect you from LRM barrages while it is set to counter mode.

We have moved permanently to a new homepage:

All new builds will be posted only on the new site. The new site also features an improved layout and better search features. See you on the new page!

I am happy to provide you with a final guide for the regular Cataphract variants. A guy named Wrench from the official forums was kind enough to allow me to use the guide here. Be sure to check out his profile and the original thread in the official forums to drop him a like and thumbs up. Enjoy:

The Cataphract has been a staple of House Davion Lances since it’s construction. A dependable heavy mech that could be relied upon, and The Gershom, a -3D variant piloted by loyalist Nicholas Reffin was no exception. With a pair of fearsome AC10s, four medium lasers and an experimental XL290 engine, The Gershom was a classic design that saw it’s share of battles and always comported itself well on the field, bringing victory and honour to its pilot .But a mechwarrior is never completely satisfied.

While The Gershom was successful, Nicholas was always irritated by its limitations. The mech shouldered the vulnerability of the XL engine, but still moved at a mediocre speed. This sluggishness made close range confrontations unpleasant when the fighting moved in, especially against highly manoeuvrable mechs. This was only compounded by the mech’s inability to quickly dissipate heat. Temperature ratings rested in acceptable tolerances when lobbing shells at range, perhaps with sporadic use of the MLAS. But frequent firing of all four MLAS in a brawl situation had a tendency to build an uncomfortable amount of heat.Still, with limited resources, it was hard to justify any changes on a successful – if imperfect – mech. The Gershom was ran as a powerful, but conventional heavy support unit for some time. But in a changing time of war, more flexibility is desired from a heavy chassis. Flush with an unexpected source of income, Reffin demanded a complete overhaul of some of his older configurations from his engineering team. First among these refits was a project to expand the tactical flexibility of the Gershom.

After much deliberation and several rejected designs, the Gershom was completely striped and rebuilt over a matter of weeks. While unpopular with some, the decision was made to actually reduce the armament on the mech, replacing the dual AC10s with a pair of UAC5s. The argument was made that despite the drop in single shot punch, the rapid firing rate of the combined UAC5s, provided it was properly managed, could bring the total destructive power of the cannons to near parity with the AC10s; and in some use-cases actually exceed them. This fire power could be maintain while projecting a more suppressive effect on the battlefield, laying down a threatening barrage of shells rather than the sporadic hammering of the AC10s. This was though to be more in line with the Gershom’s expanded role as a more active direct fire support unit.

The lighter and more space efficient cannons made way for the upgraded XL320 engine. Capable of moving the large Cataphract at the more impressive speed of 74kph, the engine was further augmented by an additional heatsink over the old design, helping to alleviate what minor heat issues the Gershom had without losing any of the four medium lasers.

However, the most extensive augmentation to the mech’s design was the rebuilding of the internal structural using the new weight efficient Endo-Steel technology and addition of 4 class-III jump jets. While bulky, the new lighter frame brought the mech just in line with the proper tonnage to thrust ratio needed to make the jets worth while.

While the Gershom will never exactly soar over the battlefield, the jump jets give the mech a decent amount of vertical and horizontal movement. This aerial mobility combined with the mech’s higher top speed allow for a much greater range of tactical options. Whether using the jets to reach a high vantage point to fire a storm of UAC5 rounds down on an enemy, to escape an unfavourable engagement, or to short-cut and overtake a fleeing enemy, the jump-jets are a constant surprise to the Gershom’s foes in the field.

The Gershom’s remaining limitations mostly centre around it’s shallow ammunition stores, 100 UAC5 rounds can be used up quickly in an engagement of even moderate length. The XL engine is a constant source of vexation and due concern in the broad chested Cataphract, requiring constant awareness of the mech’s torso condition.

This build provides a short description of a nice CTF-2X brawler build with relatively high damage output (whooping 50 alpha strike) while still maintaining a very nice heat efficiency to fight for extended periods of time. Long range combat is not recommended but you will still be able to harass over long distances with an Ultra AC/5.

CTF-2X SRM6 Brawler

Cataphract CTF-2X

XL Engine 255

Max Armor except legs (~51 each)

3x Medium Laser

1x Ultra AC/5 (~2x ammo)

2x SRM 6 (~3x ammo)

1x Anti-Missile-System (1x ammo)

Despite being a heavy and having a considerable amount of armor: play save, do not lead the charge. Use the increased speed from the engine to outmaneuver your opponents.

You will be an easy victim for LRM boats despite having an AMS and driving a heavy chassis. Try to avoid open spaces at all times.

If you spot enemies at the horizon, use heat vision (hotkey H) and zoom (hotkey Z) and place some single UltraAC/5 hits. Most enemies will duck behind cover and cease to or not even open fire.

If you are not proficient with SRMs, yet, set your SRM6s weapon group to chain fire (hotkey BACKSPACE) and fire single bursts. If you want to fire both missiles at the same time, double tap the weapon group´s hotkey.

Remember that you can use your mouse cursor (yellow circle) to aim your SRM6s.